2007-2008 Funded Projects

Art Work-Out: Visual Arts in the Gym - $15,000

Professor Wendy Jacob and Ms. Andrea Frank, Architecture

This project will assist in the development and realization of a new Visual
Arts Program introductory studio subject to be taught in collaboration
with the Department of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation (DAPER)
in Spring 2008. This course is part of a larger pilot project the Visual
Arts Program is developing that uses particular locations, systems, or
conditions as its thematic base. The project proposes to use DAPER's sports
arenas (gymnasiums, natatoriums, and playing fields) as sites for artistic
production and critical analysis. The "site" includes the arenas' architecture,
equipment, and activities.

Confronting the New Third World Challenge - $20,000

Dr. Reinhard Goethert, Architecture

In response to the now accepted doubling of the Third World population
and the tripling of the urban footprint expected by 2030, Dr. Goethert
will re-center the course "The New Practitioner" to identify proactive
strategies for approaching these issues. The course is to be re-formatted
as a challenge-based, hands-on curriculum, bringing in recognized experts
to excite and challenge students through progressive levels of exploration.
A culminating 2-week field-based workshop in a Third World country will
present students the opportunity to confront and compare the realities
on the ground with the experiences of the class.

Imaging of Materials - $20,000

Professor Silvija Gradecak, Materials Science and Engineering

Professor Gradecak will develop a course to cover topics like electron
microscopy and scanning probe microscopy, essential tools in materials
science and beyond, in a new and exciting fashion. Each lecture will cover
a topic that is based on a real-case scenario typically encountered in
research, using examples obtained by undergraduate students as part of
MIT's Undergraduate Research Opportunities program (UROP). In this way,
undergraduates students will play an active and important role in the education
of their peers.

This project builds upon two years of pedagogical innovation and educational
research undertaken by several dozen faculty in the department of Mechanical
Engineering and led by Professor Seering. That work led to important insights
into how students approach learning in MechE, and, correspondingly, to
an understanding of the pedagogies that facilitate their learning. Over
the next three years this new project will focus specifically on identifying
both core concepts (called "enduring understanding" in the literature)
and the fundamental skill of "engineering reasoning" and devising strategies
to teach them more successfully.

Mapping Controversies - $20,000

Professor Vincent Antonin Lepinay, Program in Science,
Technology, and Society

The goal of "Mapping Controversies" is to teach undergraduate students
how to account for and to map techno-scientific controversies which are
rife with uncertainties and dilemmas; objects of advanced technical expertise;
and simultaneously, intensely entangled with legal, moral, economic and
social questions. Students will learn how to describe these contentious
arenas in the most scientific manner and they will present their findings
on web sites available to the general public. The course will develop aptitudes
for qualitative investigation that are complementary to the capacities
of the formalization, modeling, analysis, and calculation required in other
courses at the Institute.

Revising the Introductory Biology Laboratory Curriculum - $20,000

Professors Dennis Kim and Thomas Schwartz, Biology

The methods of modern experimental biology are continuing to evolve rapidly
and are driving the explosion of new discoveries, from evolutionary insights
at the level of the genomes of organisms to the structural insights from
the atomic-level description of proteins and nucleic acids. Professors
Kim and Schwartz will modernize course 7.02 (Introduction to Experimental
Biology), re-vamping the curriculum, updating the methods of molecular
biology and protein purification, and introducing the use of model organism
Caenorhabiditis elegans to provide experience in genetic analysis and methods
of RNA interference.

Reviving World Literatures: A New Approach to 21L.007 - $12,900

Professors Fuller, Braithwaite and Bouillette will re-imagine the goals
for course 21L.007 (World Literatures) helping position MIT as a leader
in making the global contexts for cultural production and reception integral
to undergraduate experience of literary study. Their plan includes making
the course available once per year in multiple sections starting in Fall
2008; co-teaching the course and structuring class time to include both
individual-lead seminar discussions and general lectures attended by everyone
enrolled in the course; and promoting the class as a way of complicating
the divide between Western literary forms and "other" literatures as a
means of influencing students' subsequent engagements with literary study.
The goals of the project are to enhance literary study for students at
MIT by emphasizing cross-cultural understanding and exchange; to develop
resources and expertise as instructors whose interests cross borders and
encompass Western and non-Western forms; and to make MIT's humanities offerings
more reflective of the Institute's vanguard position in global education.

The Fisher Files Pod Cast - $3,200

Professor Peter Fisher, Physics

PodCasts offer a new avenue for education that students can tap into at
any time outside of the constraints of scheduled class time. Professor
Fisher's project would produce a weekly program devoted to time management,
organization, life skills, etc. oriented to those in an academic environment.
More broadly, the project would explore ways of connecting one's larger
life aims with the two hundred tasks one performs each day. The PodCast
of twelve episodes would be aimed at students and scientists early in their
careers with the additional goal of reaching those outside of MIT. Professor
Fisher will make the equipment, software, and expertise available to anyone
wanting to start their own PodCast for the MIT Community.

2006-2007 Funded Projects

A New Common Core for EECS - $25,000

The EECS department is rethinking its undergraduate curriculum.
A key part of the proposed new curriculum involves replacing the
existing common core subjects with a pair of new subjects that
increase integration across EE and CS, and involve much more hands-on
work. The first of these two subjects, which uses mobile robots
as the vehicle for its study, is being taught in pilot mode to
25 freshmen during spring 2006. The second subject, which is centered
on communication networks, is to be launched in fall 2006. Professors
Verghese and Lozano-Perez will use the Alumni Funds award for partial
support of the near-term development of these subjects.

Professors McCants and Ochsendorf will work on a collaborative
and multi-disciplinary effort to bring the contours of medieval
technology to life for undergraduates studying the development
of the medieval economy, and the construction of medieval monuments.
It is especially designed to supplement the curriculum in subjects
centered on the Middle Ages now offered across three departments:
History, Economics, and Architecture. It is possible that some
components of the EMA would also be of interest in other subjects,
for example, as relevant historical components in environmental
studies or in structural, mechanical, or ocean engineering.

Interactive Website of Educational e-Modules on National Security
and International Relations - $21,124

Professor Nazli Choucri, Political Science

Professor Choucri will work on this project-the development of
an interactive website consisting of educational e-modules-to provide
students with "hands-on" ways of exploring challenges to security
in the context of rapidly changing relations among nations as well
as new threats to peace and stability. Three sets of specific e-modules
will be developed, and a fourth (already available) will be used
as an added resource. Jointly, they will enable students to examine
world politics in ways that were not possible earlier.

International Development at New House - $9,100

This work will create a residence-based seminar focused on international
development issues for the students in New House I, a diverse group
of 21 undergraduates. The seminar will address the need for
ethical, political and cultural instruction that has been identified
in Senior Surveys; engage students in thinking about global integration
and diversity; and serve as a model of residence-based classes
at MIT that will potentially lead to a residential academic program
in international leadership.

Living an Extraordinary Life - $15,000

Professor Mindell will develop a subject "Living an Extraordinary
Life" to help students integrate all aspects of their lives and
make educational, career, and personal decisions based on passion,
integrity, and values. This continues a pilot subject from the
spring semester of 2006 developed by Professor Mindell and Lauren
Zander of the Handel Group, Inc., which sought to bring techniques
proven in the corporate world to MIT, to help MIT students become
complete students of their lives, both in and out of the classroom.
This work will expand that program, formally assess its impact
on MIT students, and integrate it with their educational strategies
and choices.

MIT OpenLabWare - $25,000

Mr. Zaidan and Professor Essigmann will develop OpenLabWare (OLW),
an online resource for those wishing to understand the research
process and the people who carry it out. OLW will be a web-based
project composed of modules; each will have a high impact research
paper published by MIT faculty or staff and a collection of supplementary
materials. OLW's goals are to teach the spirit and methods of cutting-edge
research, to demonstrate the impact it has on everyday life, to
personalize or humanize the research process, to promote MIT's
labs and staff, and to excite students (both at MIT and elsewhere)
about research at MIT.

Principles and Practice of Science Communication - $10,000

Dr. Durant will develop and expand the new undergraduate class,
STS.014 by integrating the class with a bold new community initiative
- a citywide Cambridge science festival, to be launched in spring
2007. The science festival will provide the environment for student
practical projects. The syllabus of STS.014 will be modified, and
class enrollment will be increased to 50. The subject will serve
the twin goals of improving MIT students' science communication
skills and fostering their (and the Institute's) sense of community
service.

Solving Real Problems - $24,455

Professors Wallace and Frey will develop an innovative subject
that will provide freshman with opportunities to: (1) learn design
skills and problem solving in a social context; (2) learn technical
communication skills while satisfying a communication requirement;
and (3) gain experience with hands-on, problem-solving. The subject
will combine a scaleable, central core class that teaches problem
solving and design skills with several hands-on, project sections
where solutions to real-world, public service-oriented problems
are designed and implemented. In addition to hands-on project design,
the project sections will include technical communication instruction.

Wheelchair Design in Developing Countries - $23,150

Mr. Winter and Dr. Smith will create a subject to educate MIT
students about engineering and cultures in the developing world
through the innovation of appropriate wheelchair technology. The
students will interact with MIT faculty and wheelchair experts
while developing design solutions to better serve the needs of
wheelchair users. In the summer following the class, three students
will have the option to implement their project in a wheelchair
workshop in a developing country.

2005-2006 Funded Projects

A Curriculum to Build Living Machines in an Undergraduate Teaching
Lab - $18,000

Doctor Natalie Kuldell, Instructor, Biological
Engineering Division

For the first time in nearly 30 years, MIT undergraduates will
have a new major to consider: Biological Engineering, a biology-based
engineering degree. One component of this degree program
is formal training in experimental fundamentals, with BE.109 Laboratory
Fundamentals in Biological Engineering currently serving as the
introduction to experimental techniques and approaches. Doctor
Kuldell will develop a teaching module for BE.109 in which students
will rationally design a simple living machine, assemble its parts,
test the behavior of their construction and compare their observations
to predicted outcomes.

A Revamping of MIT's Elementary Spanish Courses - $10,509

Lecturers Ramos and Marquez propose to change the syllabi for
Spanish I and II completely, incorporating new textbooks, revised
methodologies, and original video materials. They will develop
a language learning approach that will be unique to the MIT experience,
in part by identifying textbooks that best reflect classroom needs
based upon the talents and backgrounds of our student population. In
addition, they will film an original set of videos during a trip
to Spain with a group of students. As a result, students
will begin their study of Spanish in an environment custom-tailored
to MIT.

Creating a Multimedia Archive: A Web-Based Laboratory for
21H.102 Introduction to American History, 1865 to the Present -
$25,000

Professor Meg Jacobs, History

Professor Jacobs will create a state-of-the-art digital repository
of primary historical sources for use in 21H.102. The Multimedia
Archive (MMA) will integrate a wide variety of media –- photographs,
advertisements, propaganda posters, film and television clips,
visual art, radio broadcasts, recorded speeches, music, and more – that
reflect the diversity of American experiences from the end of the
Civil War to the present. As a rich, interactive repository,
the MMA will function as the student’s laboratory, enabling
them to conduct their own research, make their own discoveries,
and formulate their own conclusions about the historical past.

Design Education Through Conceptual Models - $17,660

Professor Herbert Einstein, Civil and Environmental
Engineering

Conceptual models, as used in the Course 1-C capstone subject,
1.103, expose students to design unusual and/or controversial problems. The
models are built by the students and used to explain the physical
solutions, which are also backed up by numbers reflecting the real
boundary conditions. Professor Einstein will improve the
present education with conceptual models and do so for the entire
Course 1 and other students at MIT. This involves providing
a better laboratory infrastructure and developing a set of four
to five new problems for the coming years.

Development of a Radiation Biology Laboratory Unit for 22.09
Principles of Nuclear Radiation Measurement and Protection - $12,000

Professor Jeffrey Coderre, Nuclear Science and
Engineering

Professor Coderre will create a set of Radiation Biology experiments,
with supporting lecture material, that can be incorporated into
the existing laboratory subject 22.09 Principles of Nuclear Radiation
Measurement and Protection. The experiments will involve
irradiation of purified samples of DNA with graded doses of X rays
or alpha particles followed by separation and quantification of
the various fragments. The very different types of damage
caused by X rays versus alpha particles will provide biologically
relevant insights into radiation measurement, radiation chemistry,
radiation biology, and radiation protection.

Professors Techet and Schmidt will develop hands-on laboratory
and MATLAB modules for 2.011 Introduction to Ocean Science and
Technology. The objective of this subject is to introduce
the fundamental concepts and tools necessary to explore, observe,
and utilize the oceans effectively, thus sparking an interest in
ocean engineering among first and second year undergraduates. This
project aims to enhance the existing curriculum for 2.011 by fully
integrating both laboratory modules and MATLAB tools, to teach
fundamental skills for data analysis, modeling and engineering
in the ocean.

6.781 Submicrometer and Nanometer Technology has no laboratory
component, despite its heavy fabrication focus, but instead uses
a series of in-class demonstrations to vie students a sense of
the experimental component of the work. The current versions
of these demonstrations illustrate only simple techniques. Professor
Berggren will develop a series of enhanced demonstrations for the
class that would be seamlessly integrated into the curriculum. The
new demonstrations will show the execution of sophisticated multi-step
nanofabrication methods and will thus be a major advance over the
existing demonstrations.

This project is part of an effort to include environmental evaluation
methods into engineering design education within both the Department
of Materials Science and Engineering and the Engineering Systems
Division. The project incorporates materials flow analyses
(MFA) and life-cycle assessment (LCA) methods into multidisciplinary
undergraduate and graduate education. Professor Kirchain
and his colleagues will use these funds for software tools for
student use and coursework and case study development.

Interdisciplinary Bioethics Course - $7,970

As future leaders, MIT students need to address the ethical assumptions
and implications of cutting edge science and engineering. Towards
this end, Professors Haslanger, Hare, and Jones are collaborating
in launching a new undergraduate subject in Bioethics. Research
in biology and biotechnology pushes the boundaries of human life
and profoundly affects the quality of life for humans and other
living things. Drawing on philosophy, history, and anthropology,
this subject will show students how problems in bioethics can be
approached from a variety of perspectives, with the aim of understanding
how we have gotten where we are, and how we should decide where
to go next.

Musical Theater (Technology) Workshop - Transforming 21M.704-
$13,400

Professor Thomas DeFrantz, Music and Theater
Arts

Professor DeFrantz will create an innovative delivery system for
sheet music through the use of tablet PCs, mp3 recordings and scanning
technologies to create a PC Tablet database for the subject. The
database will include sheet music, audio recordings, and video
clips of sequences studied in class. The project thus will
prototype a “digital textbook” in a performance-oriented
subject, as the tablets will contain not only the materials being
used by current semester students, but also a database of materials
related to musical theater that my be used by future students.

Pilot Project for URIECA: An Experimental Chemistry Curriculum
for the 21st Century - $17,000

Professor Keith Nelson, Chemistry

Professor Nelson proposes an entirely new approach to the teaching
of undergraduate laboratory practice. Students will enroll
in individual lab modules that are well matched to past and current
lecture coursework and individual interests. Each new lab
module will have explicit connection to at least one research group
in the Chemistry Department, thereby providing a segue from the
learning of lab techniques and underlying theory to the application
of related techniques and potential student participation in forefront
research. This pilot project will develop a module
focused on practice and understanding of spectroscopy at an introductory
level, on the basis of which major outside support will be sought
for the remaining modules that will constitute the new curriculum.

The Teaching/Learning Discussion Center - $8,500

Professor Paul Lagace, Aeronautics and Astronautics

Professor Lagace will establish a virtual on-line location for
academic teachers from around the world to share their views on
teaching and learning. This center will be tied with the “Tomorrow’s
Professor Mailing List”, a twice-per-week email received
by over 23,000 subscribers at over 600 academic institutions in
106 countries. Working with the developer of this initiative,
the Center for Teaching and Learning at Stanford University, this
project will promote the growth of MIT and other academics in teaching
and learning techniques through the sharing of their thoughts,
practices, and learnings.

Videocases of Student Funded Companies - $11,000

Professors John Carroll and Thomas Kochan, Sloan
School of Management

Professors Carroll and Kochan will create videotaped cases based
around the experiences of entrepreneurial companies formed by MIT
students as an outcome of the 50K Competition and other similar
opportunities on campus. Objectives for these cases include engaging
students in thinking about how they will need to develop their
own skills to be successful in such start-up environments and other
leadership opportunities, sparking the realization that technical
excellence must be combined with interpersonal and organizational
capabilities, and developing a varied corpus of examples illustrating
a wide range of principles of managerial psychology and organizational
behavior.

2004-2005 Funded Projects

An Interactive Website for Supporting Teaching Assistants - $25,000

Doctor Breslow and Ms. Dunphy will create an interactive teaching
website to strengthen the instructional skills of MIT's teaching
assistants. The website will provide TAs with access to a rich
database, including video, audio, and text-based resources that
will provide best practices in teaching, familiarize users with
the new pedagogies and technologies being used in MIT classrooms,
and illustrate possible solutions to potential instructional pitfalls.
This website should help TAs both to enhance their classroom performance
and interact more effectively with their students.

Designing Complex Dome Structures Using Digital Fabrication -
$10,200

Professor Lawrence Sass, Architecture

These funds will support a presentation of the design process
using digital fabrication (rapid prototyping) devices in the field
of architecture. Most people admire architects' creativity and
systematic project engineering, but there are few if any presentations
of this creative process. Professor Sass will present the design
process and new design possibilities resulting from this advanced
process in the form of 4 large architectural models designed and
built using CAD and rapid prototyping machines. The work will serve
as the third part of the undergraduate introduction to computing
subject 4.206.

Mr. Chen will create a natural learning environment beyond the
classroom for students who are going to take Chinese 21F.103-106.
Discussion fora will be created for MIT students to discuss topics
related to each of their lessons with students in China at the
Departments of Foreign languages and Literatures at Nankai University
and Tianjin Normal University in Tianjin. From the discussions,
our students will be able to read authentic Chinese responses to
their questions and observe how the views and attitudes of Chinese
students differ from their own. This will provide them with a way
of expanding their textbook material with short explorations of
Chinese culture and society as they prepare to study, work, or
live in China or in a Chinese setting.

Enhancing First Year Writing at MIT - $13,700

This award will fund workshops for teaching staff of first year
writing subjects to incorporate recent scholarship in composition
studies and to promote coherence among CI-HW subjects, as well
as to plan and offer an orientation session "Writing at MIT". In
the curricular enhancement process Professor Paradis and his colleagues
will address the rich diversity in backgrounds and learning styles
of MIT students to help serve the needs of all our students, who
will be living and working in the future in an increasingly global
environment. The orientation session would help freshmen make important
choices about their initial writing subjects and the continuum
of writing opportunities and development of writing abilities that
is the purpose and trajectory of the Communications Requirement.

Professors Karen Willcox and John Deyst and
Doctor Doris Brodeur, Aeronautics and Astronautics
Professors Haynes Miller and David Jerison, Mathematics

Earlier work by Professor Willcox and colleagues, partially funded
by the Alumni Funds, identified lack of communication and limited
pedagogical linkages between mathematics and engineering departments
as major contributing factors to many problems identified in the
level of mathematics skills of Course 16sophomores and juniors.
Professor Willcox and her colleagues will build on the recommendations
of that study, in particular to revise curriculum to establish
explicit linking between mathematics and engineering subjects.
They will also create explicit links to work of several mathematics
faculty who are developing web-based modules for in-lecture demonstrations
and on-line reference tools.

Ingenuity Experiments for ME 2.001/2.002- $1,000

Pierce Hayward, Mechanical Engineering

Many of the students in mechanical engineering are without a single
vocational subject from their high school curriculum: no mechanical
drawing, wood shop, or machine shop. These students generally sense
this missing practical knowledge and want the practical experience
they have missed. Mr. Pierce Hayward proposes to design experiments
in which mechanical engineering students make a series of devices
as part of the lab procedures, in order to provide this kind of
experience, improve student enjoyment and nurture mechanical ingenuity.

Professor Lundqvist and Colonel Young will use Lego Mindstorms
for students to learn the fundamentals of computer programming,
the conception and design of autonomous mobile vehicles, the vehicle
engineering to create reliable and functional devices, and to be
given opportunities to "design by redesign" while working in teams
on a collaborative hands-on engineering project. Mindstorms are
complex; microprocessor controlled multi-part "kits" which allow
students to design and assemble electric-motor powered robots to
carry out desired tasks of varying complexities and will be used
in 16.00 Introduction to Aerospace Engineering and Design, 16.Unified,
and 16.35 Real-Time Systems.

Making Testing and Specifications Come Alive - $23,658

Professor Michael Ernst, Electrical Engineering
and Computer Science

Many students view testing and specifications as two of the dryer
and more tedious topics in undergraduate programming subjects,
though they are critical to the success of any real software system.
Professor Ernst proposes to integrate research tools into 6.170
to make testing and specifying programs easier and thus more pleasant
and to make their benefits more apparent to students, thus motivating
students to perform these essential tasks. The result should be
students who enjoy programming more, understand it better, and
write better programs, and the tools should be transferable to
other programming subjects at MIT.

Media in Performance - $22,700

Professor Jay Scheib, Music and Theater Arts

Professor Scheib will develop a new subject Media in Performance
that will provide an opportunity for MIT students to make use of
media technology as a means of expanding their engagement with
the performing arts. While our students are well versed in manipulating
these technologies, they lack the intellectual and aesthetic means
to make them speak eloquently. By examining the historical development
of multimedia performance, as well as the techniques, and conceptual
tactics deployed in contemporary performances around the world
students will develop tactics for using media as a means of expressing
the complexities of their lives.

Mobile Fluid Stations for Teaching in Fluid Dynamics of the Atmospheres,
Oceans and Climate - $12,310

Professor John Marshall, Earth, Atmospheric,
and Planetary Sciences

Professor Marshall will develop mobile "fluid stations" for use
as a teaching tool in laboratory subjects, designed to illustrate
key dynamical principles governing the circulation of the Atmosphere,
Ocean and Climate. The development of these mobile fluid stations
will enable students to have an intimate hands-on interaction with
the fluid experiments by carrying out rotating fluid experiments,
viewing and recording those experiments via an overhead rotating
camera connected to a wireless transmitter, and taking observations
and analyzing them using particle tracking, in-situ temperature
sensors, dyes, etc.

Space System Product Development - $5,000

Professor David W. Miller, Aeronautics and Astronautics

The Space Systems Product Development class at MIT (16.83x) is
an innovative, three-semester subject that provides undergraduates
design-build experience in the lifecycle development of an aerospace
product. The current class is developing Self-assembling Wireless
Autonomous Reconfigurable Modules (SWARM), an innovative approach
to satellite design that attempts to alleviate specific drawbacks
that have plagued the industry. Professor Miller will supervise
student purchasing of components for the prototype satellite, including
computers, thrusters, avionics, communications networks, and micro-controllers.

2003-2004 Funded Projects

CAD POSTUP@MIT - $17,000

Professor Lawrence Sass, Architecture

This project will prepare and support an undergraduate workshop
Professor Sass will teach in the fall focused on creating complex
CAD files. These CAD files can be cut or built on a rapid prototyping
machine and create building models on laser cutters and three-dimensional
printers. A specially constructed website will be built for posting
these files, so that MIT and non-MIT students can share and use
them. Based on past work, CAD POSTUP@MIT will serve as a guide
for MIT and non-MIT students in developing and posting such files.

Cross-Fertilizing Science and Street Smarts - $16,000

Professors Sadoway and Williams are proposing a new HASS-D CI
class, offered as an STS subject, specially designed for first-term
freshmen taking 3.091. The new class will be intimately coordinated
with the scientific and technical material covered in 3.091. The
aim is that the two subjects mutually enhance and cross-fertilize
each other, so that the interconnections essential to MIT students'
future careers are to be a part of the curriculum from the start
of the MIT academic experience. This model of HASS classes linked
with science core classes can be replicated for other subjects,
opening numerous possibilities for a more exciting, intellectually
integrated first-year experience.

Developing 24.900, Introduction to Linguistics - $17,340

Professors Suzanne Flynn and David Pesetsky,
Linguistics and Philosophy

At present, 24.900 serves as a general required introduction for
Course 9 majors in Cognitive Science, as well as a subject that
has been popular with students from a wide range of other majors.
Professors Flynn and Pesetsky propose additional curricular developments
in keeping with 24.900's recent designation as both a HASS-D and
a CI-H subject. In particular, they will continue developing the
five basic overlapping modules for the class and put some material
into electronic archival form, have the students develop a fieldwork
project that will extend over the length of the semester, and modify
or develop online capabilities for interactive submission of work
and exchanges between instructors and students.

Educational Demonstrations and Displays for 3.A24 and 3.032 -
$8,500

Professor Lorna Gibson, Materials Science and
Engineering

In this project Professor Gibson will develop hands-on demonstrations,
posters, and a web-site on the structure and mechanics of selected
plant and animal materials. One set of displays will be produced
in her service learning freshman seminar for use by the Boston
Nature Center in teaching Boston public school students. A second
set of more advanced displays will be produced for use as case
students in 3.032 Mechanical Properties of Materials as part of
the new DMSE undergraduate curriculum.

MIT Teacher Education Program Teacher Licensure Initiative -
$10,000

Last year, with the support of the MIT Alumni Sponsored Funds,
the Teacher Education Program developed a new subject sequence
that offered the full teacher certification program through MIT.
Professor Klopfer will expand and support this program through
the continued development of new subjects, through supporting of
MIT Teacher Fellows who will teach core classes, and through contracting
master teachers to supervise student teachers in the field.

Professor de Weck and his colleagues will develop an intense 6-unit
IAP subject that will take students through the conception, design
and implementation of a single structural component. This will
provide a satisfactory end-to-end experience, meeting an existing
need and resulting in a deeper understanding of the interplay between
the creative human mind and modern computer aided design processes.
The novelty in this proposal is to combine rapid prototyping with
optimization in order to demonstrate the complementary capabilities
of humans and computers during the design process.

Molecular Biotechnology Undergraduate Laboratory Initiative -
$22,500

Recently the Department of Chemical Engineering proposed a new
degree on Chemical and Biological Engineering, termed course X-B,
a cornerstone of which is a new laboratory course on Biological
Engineering, 10.28. Professors Stephanopoulos, Wang, and Kelleher
will oversee a summer initiative where advanced undergraduates
develop and test potential laboratory modules for this subject.
Their goal is to produce a toolbox of vectors containing reporter
genes to monitor each stage of production of a recombinant product.
These vectors will be the starting points for projects to be developed
in 10.28.

Open Crystal Chemistry - $11,000

Professor W. Craig Carter, Materials Science
and Engineering

Professor Carter proposes developing an electronic library of
three-dimensional, rotatable models to illustrate crystal and molecular
structures, which would be accessible to the MIT community and
beyond through OpenCourseWare. While some electronic libraries
exist, they are typically generated by and for biochemists and
are libraries of structures of organic molecules. They will develop
a meta-library of crystallographic structures in a format that
allows conversion to existing and yet-to-be-developed formats for
three-dimensional visualization programs.

The Digital Chemistry Techniques Manual - $11,000

Doctor Sarah Tabacco and Professor Rick Danheiser,
Chemistry

The undergraduate chemistry laboratory sequence at ZMIT is an
innovative, interdisciplinary program that provides students with
a wide breadth of hands-on laboratory experience. Unfortunately,
it is not always possible to provide students with the personalized
instruction they may need to develop effective technique in the
laboratory. Dr. Tabacco and Professor Danheiser propose to create
a digital video manual designed to demonstrate and teach laboratory
techniques and safety procedures to students in these labs. The
Digital Chemistry Techniques Manual will improve the quality of
instruction in the laboratory subjects and should serve as a valuable
resource for UROP students as well.

The Discovery Concept in Thermal-Fluids Engineering - $23,000

Professor Ernest Cravalho, Mechanical Engineering

"Discovery" is a teaching modality that has recently emerged in
the Department of Mechanical Engineering as a way of enhancing
the education process in cores subjects. Professor Cravalho proposes
to develop this concept further in a manner that is appropriate
for subjects 2.005 and 2.006, Thermal-fluids Engineering I and
II. The work will involve the design and fabrication of 10 discovery
experiments and their deployment to enhance the lectures of these
subjects.

Service Learning Initiatives - $20,000

This award brings together to fund 3 separate, but related proposals,
for Public Service Design Seminars (PSDS), for Service Learning
at MIT, and for Curricular Initiative for Development Design (CIDD).
The PSDS provide hands-on engineering design education through
projects that benefit the community, locally and internationally.
Service Learning at MIT is a teaching philosophy and methodology
that provides students with the opportunity to learn and apply
their course material by engaging in projects that fill genuine
community needs. And CIDD is a 4-part series of classes and field
trips focusing on international development and appropriate technology.
Given the similar nature of this work and the collegial working
relationships of the principal investigators, these funds were
awarded to the 3 PIs to determine how best to be used in the context
of these proposals.

Visualization of Proteins Using Physical and Electronic Models
- $20,000

Proteins, the building blocks and machinery of all living cells,
are complex three-dimensional structures that are very difficult
for students to visualize. Professors Gossard and King will design
and manufacture one ore more physical models of pedagogically important
proteins for use in the classroom. Despite the enormous importance
of the 3-D structure of proteins, the use of physical models in
the classroom is still very limited and should provide an important
level of motivation to empower our students' understanding.

2002-2003 Funded Projects

A Visual Analysis Component to 21A.219: Law and Society - $12,313

Professor Susan S. Silbey, Anthropology

Law and Society is designed to acquaint students with basic legal
processes and organization from the point of view of a social scientist,
not a lawyer or legal technician. In general, however, it can be
a challenge to have undergraduate students see the systemic and
structural features of social action. Professor Silbey will use
appropriate films, visual analysis assignments, and the incorporation
of visual images within written texts in order to engage students
more highly developed visual capacities and enable them to become
more astute observers of the social world and help them understand
and deploy social theory and analytic concepts.

Aeronautics and Astronautics Communications web site - $9,617

Dr. McKenzie will create a discipline-specific communications
web site for Aeronautics/Astronautics educators and students to
use in the classroom and as an outside resource. This site will
include guidelines for specific genres of communications, writing,
presentations, and reviewing techniques, as well as models of excellent
written communications and video clips and graphics of excellent
oral presentations. The educational goals are to integrate communications
into the discipline by providing easily accessible models and guidelines
for active in-class use and as a discipline-wide resource.

Building Interaction in Concourse Psychology - $21,450

Professor Jeremy M. Wolfe, Brain and Cognitive
Science

Professor Wolfe will enhance the Concourse version of 9.00 Introduction
to Psychology by creating a series of interactive computer-based
experiences that can be used to supplement the standard classroom
environment. These will be highly flexible in a way that will allow
students to get a quick illustration of a phenomenon or dig forever
into the topic if they are so inclined. The eventual goal of this
project will be to create a rich collection of experiences that
can be incorporated into and used by mainstream Introductory Psychology
subjects and the academic community beyond MIT.

Development and Teaching Japanese Animation - $13,600

Sean Leonard '04, Experimental Study Group

There is increasing interest in Japanese animation (anime) throughout
the United States. Sean Leonard proposes to develop and operate
a spring 2003 subject on the field, using innovative teaching methods
and guest speakers to enhance learning. He also intends to teach
an IAP subject on the process of translating, subtitling, and post-producing
anime works. Following the successes of these 2 subjects, the final
objective is to arrange and package the subject for future teaching.

Exploring Black Holes - $8,000

Professor Edmund Bertschinger, Physics

In the fall term 2001, a new undergraduate class 8.224 Exploring
Black Holes was offered, the initial development of which was supported
by the MIT Council on Educational Technology. This funding allows
Professor Bertschinger to complete the initial educational goals
for the class. One part of the work will be to program a relativistic
flight simulator, that will enable a user to look in all directions
around a black hole while standing still, freely falling, orbiting,
or moving under rocket power. This should be a significant contribution
to the understanding of general relativity and its consequences
for compact objects. A second part of the work will be to record
the seminars and provide them in video streaming format to the
web site, to foster greater interaction between and among the undergraduates
and alumni in the class.

Foundations of Computational and Systems Biology - $26,000

The interface between biology, engineering and computation is
one of the most active areas of research in the life sciences.
Professor Sorger and his colleagues will develop a new subject
for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students with backgrounds
in either molecular biology or computer science but not necessarily
both. The two-semester Foundations series will represent a comprehensive
introduction to the new biology and to biology-inspired computation.

Introduction to Optimization (15.053) - $14,000

Professor James B. Orlin, Sloan School of Management

The textbook for 15.053, a core subject of Management Science,
is excellent in many respects, but is also out of date in other
aspects. In particular, it is very out of date with respect to
its use of computer technology and with respect to applications
developed over the past 20 years. Professor Orlin's goals for this
project are to therefore enhance the textbook along several different
dimensions and to facilitate the international creation and collection
of materials relating to optimization by an effective use of OpenCourseWare.

To improve the level of mathematics skills of sophomores and juniors
in the department, Professor Wilcox and her colleagues will work
to help design aspects of the core engineering curriculum so that
it reinforces and builds upon concepts taught in math subjects.
Specifically, they will develop mathematical modules to link concepts
and terminology learned in freshman and sophomore math classes
with concepts that are utilized in Course 16 classes and to link
the common mathematical foundations between engineering disciplines.
Utilizing this work, they hope to unify the way in which mathematics
is presented to Course 16 undergraduates throughout their degree.

MIT - Haiti Curricular Initiative for Development Design - $12,350

Amy Smith, Instructor, Edgerton Center

This proposal is for a project that harnesses the energy of students
and student groups to provide an exciting educational opportunity
to MIT students and technical assistance to communities in developing
countries. Amy Smith proposes to create a fall term seminar that
provides a cultural, social, political, environmental and economic
overview of the country; an IAP field trip to the country to identify
technical problems that are faced by local communities; and a spring
term design seminar that develops solutions to the problems identified
during the IAP field trip.

MIT Teacher Education Program Undergraduate Initiative - $22,000

Professor Eric Klopfer, Urban Studies and Planning

The mission of the MIT Teacher Education Program, started in 1995,
is to develop a cadre of MIT undergraduates that will become the
science and math teachers of tomorrow. Professor Klopfer intends
to provide an opportunity for MIT students to meet the requirements
of teacher certification entirely at MIT. This award will allow
him to develop new courses, hire an MIT Teacher Fellow, and contract
master teachers to work with student teachers to meet this certification
goal.

Scientific Visualizations across Disciplines and Cultures - $12,000

Professor Joe Dumit, Science, Technology, and
Society

Visualization is a key aspect of the presentation of scientific
data in a variety of fields. Professor Dumit will assemble an online
archive of teaching modules that will enable students to critically
understand and assess scientific visualization across disciplinary
lines. A new subject will be developed based on this archive that
will expose undergraduates to a variety of visualization techniques,
so that they will learn to understand the work involved in producing
them and to critically assess the power and limits of each.

String Theory for Undergraduates (8.251) - $8,000

Professor Barton Zwiebach, Physics

All over the world, String Theory is taught as an advanced graduate
course requiring the sophisticated tools of quantum field theory
and Einstein's general relativity. Professor Zwiebach proposes
to develop for the first time string theory at the undergraduate
level, using the tools of undergraduate quantum mechanics, special
relativity, electromagnetism and statistical mechanics. MIT will
thus be recognized as the first institution to create a rigorous
undergraduate level subject in string theory.

TeleEngineering Operations Suite - $20,000

Lieutenant Colonel Brian L. Baker, P.E., ROTC

Lt. Colonel Baker intends to use TeleEngineering to provide a
linkage between MIT students in the classroom and engineers and
subject matter experts in the field. The purchase of communications
equipment required to tie into an elaborate network established
by the Army Corps of Engineers will leverage that connectivity
for enhanced classroom learning opportunities for MIT undergraduate
engineers. Students could be linked in real-time to Corps of Engineers
laboratories, deployed engineers or disaster responses sites, thus
enhancing students' educational experiences.

2001-2002 Funded Projects

A Concept Question Database For Aerothermal Engineering - $3,800

A final phase of implementing active learning and peer instruction within
their sophomore core and junior/senior level subjects in Thermodynamics
and Aerodynamics is to develop good concept questions. Professor Darmofal
and his colleagues will develop a concept question database for undergraduate
subjects in thermodynamics and aerodynamics and apply the database for
in-class active learning and assessment of conceptual understanding.

Continuing and Improving MIT-Valencia Online Exchange - $14,319

Doctor Douglas Morgenstern, Foreign Languages and Literatures

Originally developed as a prototype in 6.916, Software Engineering of
Innovative Web Services, Dr. Morgenstern intends to improve and expand
an environment for active learning through an online community of interactions
between MIT students and students at the Polytechnic University of Valencia.
The primary educational objective of the web site is to provide an environment
for active learning. The secondary objective is to provide an environment
where elements of distance learning can be employed and tested.

Dr. Illari and Professor Marshall propose to create software to allow
students to access, manipulate and model real-time global meteorological
data. Specifically, they intend to customize a weather analysis system
for use as a teaching tool in undergraduate and graduate laboratory and
IAP subjects, designed to illustrate the main dynamical ideas governing
the circulation of the Atmosphere, Ocean and Climate. The analysis system
will allow any remote user hands-on study of meteorology and its associated
fluid mechanics and thermodynamics.

Economics Research And Communication (14.33) - $20,000

Professor Sara Ellison, Economics

The economics department will design a new subject to become a requirement
for their undergraduate majors. Professor Ellison will establish this new
subject that will teach students how to perform original empirical analysis
of an economic question through the process of forming economic hypotheses,
gathering appropriate data, analyzing them, and effectively communicating
their results, in both written and oral form. Objectives include providing
students with more intensive communications instruction, with hands-on
research experience, and with a segue into thesis-writing.

Field Research Experience For Freshmen - $19,790

An important element of the revised 1-E environmental engineering curriculum
is the new emphasis on field and laboratory work. Professor Hemond and
his group will develop an off-campus real-world IAP field research project
involving testing of the Charles River's environmental quality. This effort
will offer a field-oriented freshman seminar that would complement and
build on the concepts of the freshman curriculum.

This project is based on the highly successful projects developed in Foreign
Languages and Literatures in French, German, Japanese, and Spanish. Modeled
on his acclaimed project on cultural identity and Japan, StarFestival ,
Professor Miyagawa will create an interactive web-based narrative based
on a Chinese-American experience for the purpose of teaching issues of
diversity and cultural identity - Who am I? Where did I come from? Where
do I fit in? It will thus give ethnic Asian students at MIT an opportunity
to reflect on their own cultural background and to take pride in their
multi-cultural identity.

The Ancient Near East (21H.303) - $15,000

Professor Joshua Sosin, History

Many collections of primary sources and detailed archeological studies
are virtually inaccessible to undergraduates. Professor Sosin will assemble
a database that will contain English translations of primary sources, images
of archaeological sites and artifacts and a bibliography. This database
will be used in the classroom and outside, to test and control primary-source
readings, to launch classroom discussion, to aid the group in the construction
of historical arguments and to develop those arguments into viable research
papers.

2000-2001 Funded Projects

Computer-Based Multimedia Demonstrations In Psychology - $10,900

Professor Steven Pinker, Brain and Cognitive Sciences

Subject 9.00 enrolls three hundred students a term, roughly half of whom
are freshmen. This award provides funding to Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Professor Steven Pinker to develop computer-generated audio, video, and
animated teaching materials. Professor Pinker plans to integrate these
resources with lecture materials for use in the classroom and on a web
site for students to replay as they review and study.

Environmental Case Study Development - $26,000

Professors Jeffrey Steinfeld, Donald Sadoway, and Matthew Gardner have
received resources for the creation of a curriculum using the wide-ranging
research programs currently underway within the Center for Environmental
Initiatives. The results of this research, incorporated into classroom
teaching at MIT in 3.091 and 5.23, will allow students to examine a series
of case studies that emphasize the connections between theory and practice,
thereby building awareness of industrial impact on the natural environment.

Essentials of Engineering - $15,000

Professors Thomas Eagar and Paul Lagace, Engineering
Systems Division

Funding for the proposal by Professors Thomas Eagar and Paul Lagace will
help create the first undergraduate subject to be offered by the new Engineering
Systems Division. "Essentials of Engineering"
will be a second-term freshman elective subject involving case studies
of major engineering systems development and designed to permit investigation
of several different disciplines. Faculty from a variety of Engineering
departments at MIT will be contributing to projects for this class, aimed
at developing in students the skills needed for effective engineering communication
and leadership.

Faculty Development Workshops To Redesign The First-year Curriculum In
Writing - $11,000

Drs. Rebecca Faery and James Paradis, Program in Writing
and Humanistic Studies

Funding provided for Dr. Rebecca Faery ­ Director of First Year Writing
­ will be used to support faculty development workshops for first year
curriculum teaching staff in the Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies.
Within the workshops, faculty will be given the opportunity to review theory
and practice, develop syllabi, and discuss strategy, methods, and the effective
use of information technologies.

New Undergraduate Lab Course on Functional Imaging of the Human Brain
- $16,000

Professor Nancy Kanwisher, Brain and Cognitive Sciences

Professor Nancy Kanwisher is using her award to design a new 16-unit lab
class in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. Students in this
class will have a chance to design and run their own brain-imaging experiments,
and analyze the results of their fMRI and those of others.

Restructuring Organic Chemistry - $8,600

Under the guidance of Professor Daniel Kemp, two undergraduate students,
Eric Chang (Course 7) and Dan O' Connell (Course 5) will develop learning
aids ­ including a student workbook, an Internet program, and a TA guidebook
for Chemistry 5.12 , a class taken by 350 students a year, and a prerequisite
for many classes in a variety of departments.

Use Of The Geotechnical Centrifuge To Integrate Physical Modeling Of
Large Scale Engineering Problems - $12,500

As part of a major redesign of programs in the Department of Civil and
Environmental Engineering, Professor Patricia Culligan's award will provide
funds to use the MIT Balanced Arm Centrifuge to provide hands-on experience
and problem-based learning to students in 1.031: Geotechnical Engineering
Design. Student teams will build scale models of their geotechnical engineering
problems to be tested on the centrifuge, allowing them to see the effect
of their engineering design.

1999-2000 Funded Projects

A Communication Pipeline For elab 7.15J - $15,000

Professor Paul Matsudaira, Bioengineering and Environmental
Health

In the new Project Lab for Biology undergraduates and Bioengineering minors
(7.15J/BEH350), Professor Paul Matsudairas students will examine
the complex pattern of yeast cell genes using DNA chips, matrices of probe
DNAs that are arrayed on glass slides. Because DNA chips are so new, teaching
materials must be compiled from various sources. Professor Matsudaira will
use his award to develop a fully integrated electronic support tool for
instruction, data collection, and the preparation of reports for the new
lab subject. Lectures and all supporting information will be compiled and
placed on the course web site. Student reports and papers for the BUG Journal
as well as the Project Lab will be administrated via this same system,
permitting rapid feedback, improved graphics, better written papers, and
publication-ready documents.

Development Of An Interdisciplinary Laboratory Subject For A Modern Environmental
Engineering Curriculum - $19,020

As part of the reform effort in the undergraduate environmental engineering
(1E) curriculum, Professors Heidi Nepf, Martin Polz and Bettina Voelker
are developing a laboratory subject that strives to engage students in
systems-oriented learning that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries.
The goal of this project is the design of a modern, interdisciplinary laboratory
sequence that will give students the tools for innovative analysis of the
physical, chemical, and biological processes governing the behavior of
environmental systems. For the faculty involved, the increased interaction
that is required to create this lab will deepen their understanding across
disciplines, and it is believed the collective teaching of the lecture
subjects tied to the laboratory will improve as the lab provides the structure
and focal points for instruction.

emergentDesign Curriculum Initiative - $8,000

Professor Peter Testa, Architecture

Open-source software tools will be developed by Architecture Professor
Peter Testa to introduce computation in the earliest stages of the architectural
design process. The emergentDesign curriculum is a significant departure
from traditional architectural education and will draw upon techniques
and approaches from the disciplines of computer science and artificial
intelligence in addition to architecture. A major component of the studio
will be a weekly in-class laboratory in programming interactive Java applications
to serve as design tools. Through this, it is hoped that a distinction
in roles between "architect" and "programmer" will
be shown to be less effective than the role of "designer". It
is also hoped that viewing design as a process, as opposed to a product,
will give the students a chance to engage architecture from a contemporary
perspective.

Womens Studies faculty members, including Professor Lora Wildenthal
(History) and Professor Sally Haslanger (Linguistics and Philosophy), have
created a new modular approach to teaching SP.401. The class will now draw
upon the expertise of all faculty members in Womens Studies, and
make it possible for all faculty to take over teaching this introductory
subject on a rotating basis. The class will now be organized so that individuals
with a variety of scholarly interests will feel competent and able to contribute
seriously to the endeavor. The award will be used this summer to gather
and produce materials in preparation for the first iteration of the class
in Fall 1999.

Professor Daniel Frey is using his award to design additional classroom
demonstrations and laboratory exercises for the Unified Engineering course
in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. This project seeks to
improve student exposure to physical examples of the theoretical constructs
taught in Unified through additional hands-on experience. It is hoped that
a collection of varied demonstrations and experiments can be created, giving
the instructors who teach Unified Engineering additional material to draw
upon and incorporate into lectures and problem sets.

Software To Teach Nerve Conduction - $20,000

Professor Thomas Weiss, Electrical Engineering and Computer
Science

Since 1984, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Professor Thomas
Weiss has been involved, together with a number of students, in developing
software packages to teach cellular biophysics. The alumni funds will support
a project to produce a software package to allow students to learn about
the conduction of action potentials in both unmyelinated and myelinated
nerve fibers by access to simulation software. The software will be used
in lecture demonstrations, in special recitations held in electronic classrooms,
as homework problems, and as bases for student projects. The software and
its manual will be made available over the internet.

As part of the major curriculum reform underway in the Department of Mechanical
Engineering, subjects 2.005/2.004 is a year-long sequence that replaces
2.20, 2.40 and 2.51. In the new sequence, the principles of fluid mechanics,
thermodynamics and heat transfer are being taught as a cohesive, unified
whole. With the help of this award, Professors Ernest Cravalho, Gareth
McKinley and John Brisson will develop instrumented demonstrations of quantitative
and qualitative effects in thermal fluid sciences, including a vapor compression
refrigerator, a boiling curve, and an upgrade of their critical point demonstration.
This award will enable the recipients to use both undergraduate and graduate
students to develop the demonstration hardware.

Web-Based Microelectronic Device Characterization - $19,872

Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Jesus del Alamo
will use his award for the support of a permanent set-up of dedicated equipment
for web-based microelectronics device characterization. This will continue
the field trials that have already occurred in 6.720J/3.43J and 6.012 in
the Fall and Spring of 1998-1999. The project allows for a hands-on device
characterization experience in classes that have not, for practical reasons,
been able to offer such an experience to students before.

1998-1999 Funded Projects

5.302: Introduction To Experimental Chemistry - $10,000

Dr. Martín Zysmilich & Professor Rick L.
Danheiser, Chemistry

Dr. Martín Zysmilich and Professor Rick L. Danheiser are using
their award to support an experimental laboratory subject during IAP for
freshmen enrolled in 5.11 or 3.091. After the resounding success of last
years intensive IAP laboratory course for freshmen (5.301), Dr. Zysmilich
and Professor Danheiser have designed 5.302 to give more first-year students
an opportunity to witness firsthand the products of experimental chemistry,
which students are otherwise left to read about in their textbooks. 5.302
will focus on "fun" experiments that will illustrate to students
the wide range of phenomena that can result from even simple chemical experimentation.

Comprehensive Integration Of 2.007 With Freshman Physics - $15,000

Professor Alexander Slocum of Mechanical Engineering will collaborate
with Physics Professors Edmund Bertschinger, Alan Guth, and Boleslaw Wyslouch
to integrate 2.007 with 8.01 and 8.02. With the goal of inciting passion
for learning and motivation for retaining the information taught in freshman-year
Physics, Professor Slocum will work with Physics faculty to create an active
connection between the 2.007 and the material covered in 8.01 and 8.02.
In each of the subjects, syllabi will be cross-referenced, thus explicitly
helping undergraduates see the ways that knowledge transcends specific
disciplines. Professor Slocum cited the goal of showing students in 8.01
and 8.02 how the material they are studying as freshmen will be applied
in their second year, namely by encouraging Physics faculty to illustrate
the principles of physics through demonstrations using machines created
by 2.007 students. T.A.s will also work across disciplines to help students
in freshman-year Physics and 2.007 see the connections between the subjects.

Professors Thomas DeFrantz and Brenda Cotto-Escalera will use their award
to support a project geared toward integrating multimedia technology into
Theater Arts at MIT. Acknowledging that undergraduates have limited time
to devote to humanities and extra-curricular activities, the project proposed
by Professors DeFrantz and Cotto-Escalera will not only enhance undergraduate
subjects in Theater Arts but also provide an online resource for students
who are involved in co-curricular and extra-curricular performance groups.
The project involves the creation of three multimedia modules that will
use video, film, slides, and musical excerpts, all of which will be transferred
to a digitized slide show format for use online and in the classroom.

Cybertutor: A Reactive Mechanics Tutor For The Internet - $7,000

Professor David Pritchard, Physics

Professor of Physics David Pritchard will use his award to support an
effort to shift homework for 8.01 from paper to online assignments. The
Cybertutor will be able to hone problem sets to each students skill
level, both in terms of academic background and success at solving the
specific problems at hand. The program will also provide more immediate
assistance for students while they are working on their homework by allowing
them to seek help on specific aspects of the problems on which they are
working, and will provide students with feedback on how they scored in
a more timely manner than is possible with paper grading. Lastly, the Physics
faculty will be able to evaluate the efficacy of each individual problem
by examining patterns where students were consistently successful or consistently
struggled on problem sets.

Development Of Internet Hypertexts In The Basic Sciences - $7,200

Professor Vernon Ingram, Biology, Director of the Experimental
Study Group

Professor of Biology Vernon Ingram, Director of the Experimental Study
Group, is using his award to further efforts in maintaining a Biology Hypertext,
which is already available on the Web at http://esg-www.mit.edu:8001/esgbio/.
In addition to updating the Hypertext as it now stands, Professor Ingram
will work toward creating a Center of Internet Science Teaching. His hope
is that the Biology Hypertext project will be a step in the direction of
establishing such a center.

Experimental Nonlinear Dynamics: An EAPS-Math Collaboration - $10,000

Continuing in the spirit of exhibiting real-world physical phenomena to
students who are learning about complex theories in the classroom, Professor
John Bush of Mathematics is collaborating with Professor Daniel Rothman
of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences to create laboratory demonstrations
for 12.006. The goal of the demonstrations will be to illustrate the ways
that nonlinear dynamics manifest themselves in a variety of real physical
systems. Proposed demonstrations include the creation of a forced pendulum,
a Malkus waterwheel, and a Belouzov-Zhabotinsky reaction, among others.

The Development Of A Bilingual Curriculum In Chinese Literature - $6,000

Professor Emma Teng, Foreign Languages & Literatures

Professor Emma Teng is using her award to develop one subject and adapt
another subject to include bilingual curricula and texts. Noting a dearth
of bilingual materials in field of Chinese literature, Professor Teng hopes
to create subjects that will appeal to a wide range of MIT undergraduate
and graduate students and that might also be applicable to academics at
other colleges and universities.

The Initial Design And Implementation Of An Online Communication Resource
Center - $10,000

As a first step in creating a new Communication Resource Center, which
is being developed in response the work of the CUP Subcommittee on the
Communication Requirement, Professor James Paradis and Drs. Edward Barrett,
Leslie Perelman, and Steven Strang are using their fund gift to design
and implement an Online Communications Resource Center (OCRC). This online
resource will primarily serve undergraduates, but will offer resources
that will be of use to faculty and other members of the community as well.
Services of the OCRC will include access to educational materials for students
and faculty, an online scheduling mechanism for appointments at the Communications
Resource Center, and a secure online referral facility through which faculty
will be able to refer students to the Center.

White House Audiotapes As A Resource For Teaching The American Presidency
And American Politics - $4,200

Professor Daniel Kryder, Political Science

With the goal of exposing undergraduates to the nuances of research in
the social sciences based on primary materials, Political Science Professor
Daniel Kryder is redesigning curricula for two subjects that will incorporate
audiotapes from the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon presidential administrations.
Citing the richness of audiotapes as a source for academic study, Professor
Kryder noted that students will learn not only about the subject matter
but also about how social scientists report historical events, by comparing
prominent secondary sources with their own interpretations of the primary
sources.

1997-1998 Funded Projects

5.30: Chemistry Techniques Laboratory For Freshmen - $10,000

Professor Timothy Swager & Professor Rick Danheiser,
Chemistry

Professors Timothy Swager and Rick Danheiser of Chemistry have received
funding to support the development of an innovative, techniques-oriented
freshman chemistry laboratory subject to be offered during IAP. The aim
of this new subject is twofold: to provide undergraduates with an opportunity
for hands-on experience in their freshman year; and to facilitate the ability
of first-year students to obtain undergraduate research positions in chemistry
department laboratories.

A Training Tool For International TAs - $2,305

Dr. Jane Dunphy, Foreign Languages & Literatures

Dr. Jane Dunphy has received support to create a videotape to serve as
a model for an effective interactive classroom, where students are fully
engaged in discussion and problem solving. International TAs will
be able to use this videotape as a tool to analyze the different aspects
of teaching that contribute to a successful, dynamic class.

Computerized Demonstrations Of Electromagnetic Fields - $9,000

Professor Markus Zahn, Electrical Engineering and Computer
Science

Professor Markus Zahn of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science has
received support to use Maxwell software to prepare computerized visuals
and movies of dynamic electromagnetic phenomena to be used as classroom
demonstrations, for homework assignments, and for assigned design problems.
The use and experience of this computer software by 6.013 students will
teach them to use practical tools and expose them to real-world problems
they will see on the job.

History At The Bench: Reading And Writing About Modern Europe - $10,000

Professor Anne McCants & Professor Harriet Ritvo,
History

Professors Anne McCants and Harriet Ritvo of History are using their award
to design a European history core subject that emphasizes the skills and
methods professional historians actually use -- e.g., persuasive writing
and oral presentations -- in their research. The subject being developed
will introduce undergraduates to the source materials of modern European
history in a way which will allow them actually to practice the art of
the historian rather than simply to consume the scholarships of historians.
In their title "History at the Bench," the instructors deliberately
borrowed the metaphor of the engineers in an effort to convey that the
emphasis will be on "practice" rather than mastery of a narrative
tradition. Writing persuasively will be a critical component of that "practice."

Making Things Move - $8,500

Professor Steven Leeb, Electrical Engineering and Computer
Science

Professor Steven Leeb, from Electrical Engineering and Computer Science,
will use his award to partially fund the costs of a piece of equipment
that will be used in four EECS subjects. Professor Leeb intends to introduce
into the EECS curriculum the opportunity for students, freshmen through
first year graduate students, to actually touch and work with substantial
(greater than one horsepower) rotating electric machines for servomechanisms,
drives, and generating systems in the context of modern design problems.

New Teaching Technologies In Introduction To Aerospace Engineering And
Design - $12,000

Professor Dava Newman, Aeronautics and Astronautics

Professor Dava Newman of Aeronautics and Astronautics has received an
award to support her curriculum developments using new technologies and
design in a freshman subject, 16.00 Introduction to Aerospace Engineering
and Design. Professor Newman intends to refine the Web-based course materials
for 16.00; to assess the "learning value" of using new technologies
in education; and to create an interactive electronic text and CD-ROM materials
based on this curriculum.

Team Building Skills In Chemical Engineering Projects Lab - $15,000

Professor Clark Colton, Chemical Engineering

Professor Clark Colton of the Chemical Engineering Department has received
support to help with his development of a curriculum in team building and
team management skills that will be an integral part of Subject 10.26.
The content of the curriculum will focus on the characteristics that lead
to successful team performance and on tools and techniques that students
can use with their own 10.26 lab teams and later in their professional
careers.

The MIT Architectonic Research Collaboratory - $6,000

Professor Chris H. Luebkeman, Architecture

Professor Chris H. Luebkeman of the Department of Architecture will use
his funding to further his work toward an "ARCSpace" -- the design
and development of a virtual environment at MIT that will support undergraduate
teaching, learning, and research about the "science of architecture." The
ARCSpace is envisioned as the premier virtual collaboratory for architecture
students not only at MIT, but from around the world to "meet" and
collaborate in both educational and research venues. The initial work on
the collaboratory will be in the context of topics relating to load-bearing
structure.

1996-1997 Funded Projects

A Course In Electromagnetism Using Advanced Technologies - $14,000

Professor John Belcher, Physics

Physics 8.02 is the highest enrollment subject taught at MIT, and it is
one of the more difficult subjects for students because of the non -intuitive
nature of electromagnetism. In order to properly demonstrate the phenomena,
Professor Belcher plans to develop a series of short videos with animations
and text of selected 8.02 experiments. Professor Belcher emphasizes that "the
power of animations in explaining electromagnetic phenomena can only be
appreciated by viewing sample animations." Professor Belcher plans
on having the initial phase of the 8.02 material developed for Spring 1997.

Computational Experiments For 2.001: Mechanics & Materials I - $7,500

A significant number of Mechanical Engineering sophomores enroll in 2.001,
the subject in which theoretical concepts are introduced in lecture and
related design problems are worked on in recitation. Ideally, this foundation
information would be also relayed through
"hands-on" experience in the laboratory; however, due to limited
resources, the laboratory experience must wait until 2.002. Therefore,
Professors Abeyaratne, Feng, and Sonwalkar have sought the help of the
Class of 51 Fund to support the development of a "virtual laboratory" using
hypermedia technology. The visualization experience of abstract concepts
will be viewed through solid examples of interactive manipulation of different
types of supports, mechanical devices, and stresses and strains as well
as video clips of experiments. This project, beginning during the summer
of 1996, is anticipated to be completed in September 1997.

Crossroads: The Integration Of The Teaching Of Spanish Language And Culture
Through Technology - $10,000

Professor Resnick and Dr. Groeger sought funding from the Class of 51
to enhance the teaching of Spanish IV. New curricular modules will allow
for the integration of language learning, history, literature, and culture,
so that students will have a contextual understanding of events that have
shaped the Hispanic world. The modules will be developed through transforming
articles, literary texts, interviews, video and audio clips, and speeches
into an interactive language-learning environment on the World Wide Web.
Additionally, glosses and tools, vocabulary and grammar activities, links
to other web sites and an on-line bulletin board will help students learn
independently, effectively and efficiently. This curriculum reform should
be ready by the end of 1996.

Engineering A Change: Designs For The Developing World - $6,000

Professor Carl Peterson & Amy Smith, G., Mechanical
Engineering

While the core subjects taught in the Freshman Year are designed to teach
students background principles necessary for the understanding of science
and engineering disciplines, the context of problem-solving makes the theory
seem more relevant and easier to learn and might better be produced through
exposing students to the design process. This freshman seminar will meet
once a week for two hours during Spring Term 1997; students will begin
to find solutions to technical problems in developing countries. The projects
students select for the seminar will focus on diagnosing and treating sexually
transmitted diseases. Students will meet informally in groups with a faculty
supervisor and a graduate student or upperclass assistant.

Teaching Initiatives For 2.002 Mechanics Of Materials II - $8,500

The Department of Mechanical Engineering is phasing in a new undergraduate
curriculum that includes a basic core of eight subjects conveying the fundamental
principles of mechanical engineering and the introduction of non-traditional
teaching techniques. In 2.002, Professor Boyce and Dr. Breslow will introduce
new methods of teaching and learning through the development of a "take-home
Shoe Box of Experiments", the introduction of "Facilitated Teamwork" in
the laboratory and a "Teaching Practicum." It is hoped that these
new initiatives will help the undergraduate students learn subject content
more thoroughly and independently, develop confidence as problem solvers,
and improve their communication and teamwork skills. Graduate students
assisting with this subject will experience in group facilitation and teaching.
Through the help of the Class of 51 Fund, this model will be in place
for Fall 1996; the subject will be taught again in Spring 1997, so experience
gained from the fall term subject can be immediately applied. It is anticipated
that other subjects in Mechanical Engineering will undergo similar curriculum
development.

The Virtual Screening Room: A Multimedia Textbook For Film Analysis -
$10,000

Professor Henry Jenkins, Literature Faculty

Because movies move, traditional textbooks containing the static medium
of print lose a great deal of the fundamentals of cinema. Professor Jenkins
has developed a new type of textbook that enables the dynamic nature of
film to remain intact - A "Multimedia Textbook." This more experiential
approach to learning about film will allow the student to engage with and
manipulate segments from the world of cinema. Professor Jenkins project
will produce: a compendium text of key terms and concepts; a multiple indexing
of authors, genres, national cinemas, and historical periods; sidebars
providing advanced discussion of core debates in film history and film
theory; multimedia authoring to allow students to make their own juxtapositions,
associations and supported arguments; and interactive exercises and experiments
to allow students to manipulate images and sequences from films. The Class
of 51 Fund will enable Professor Jenkins to finish the chapter on
editing that will include 120-150 films representing most of the major
national cinemas. He plans to include the new editing unit in his Film
Analysis freshman seminar during Fall 1996 and in his Film Experience HASS-D
subject in Spring 1997.

In the Fall of 1996, a new introductory subject will be offered in computer
programming. Focusing on computation-as-interaction rather than computation-as-calculation,
freshmen will learn the importance of hands-on experience and collaboration
as forms of teaching and learning. This style of teaching departs from
the traditional methods in Computer Science; the major component of the
class will be a three hour in-class laboratory which emphasizes student
interaction, student teaching, and facilitation by the subject staff.

1995-1996 Funded Projects

Case Studies In Environmental Politics - $15,000

Professor Stephen M. Meyer, Political Science

The Class of 51 funded Professor Meyers proposal to prepare
teaching modules on environmental politics and policy. The existing reading
material was considered by the students to be inadequate for an otherwise
highly regarded subject. After Professor Meyer introduced the new material,
the teaching module was considered to be the backbone of the subject. Students
rave that the new module is able to blend science and politics in a way
that explains how science is used, abused, and ignored in the policy process
- necessary information for them as future scientists and engineers. "The
Class of 1951 has had a tremendous immediate impact on the environmental
politics and policy education for undergraduates at MIT," states Professor
Meyer.

Collaborative Interaction For Improved Pedagogy - $10,000

Through the development of prototypes, Professors Teller and Dorsey were
able to research the pedagogical techniques that not only challenge students learning
but also create an environment in which the students contribute to the
teaching aspect. By specifying algorithms to perform the specific task,
a group of students are able to navigate a body of material organized into
a "directed graph" of modules in the web. The students were able
to navigate the graphs and choose nodes in which other modules were invoked.
These nodes enabled the students to move forward in a number of ways a)
to see how the algorithm is dynamically manipulated; b) to specify code
fragments to perform specific operations, documents, and debug the codes;
or c) to leave comments, test cases, etc., behind for other students embarking
in the same codes, creating a real-time link to conversations with students
and teaching staff. Implementation of this project is currently underway.
Future work of this project includes publication of the findings in education
and web journals.

Industrial Ecology As A Vehicle For Advancing The Basic Concepts Of Chemistry:
A New Approach To Teaching 3.091 (Introduction To Solid State Chemistry)
- $10,000

Professor Donald Sadoway, Material Science and Engineering

With the help of the Class of 51 Fund, Professor Sadoway was able
to undertake a comprehensive revision of 3.091, Introduction to Solid State
Chemistry, to teach the fundamentals of chemistry along with the basics
of industrial ecology. Through the addition of new lecture topics, enrichment
material, new homework exercises and exam questions - and an active web
site documenting all the additions - students found this required subject
to be enjoyable and informative. The class enjoyed seeing how chemical
principles could be applied in contemporary technology. The lecture, teaching
staff, and students found the revisions of 3.091 to be both needed and
rewarding.

Problems In Electricity And Magnetism - $10,000

Professor Robert Rose, Concourse Program

As a continuation of "From Russia With Love," Professor Rose
used the new form of problem solving during the Spring Semester 1996 to
help students understand the physical phenomena of Electricity and Magnetism.
With the help of funds granted to this project, the new subject, SP344,
met one day a week to work through problem sets, thus enriching the second
semester experience.

Visual Chemistry - $15,000

Professor Bruce Tidor & Melinda Cerny, Chemistry

With the help of the Class of 51, MIT undergraduates were employed
to help develop curricular tools for teaching large undergraduate chemistry
subjects and to help expand a web site outlining departmental and educational
information in the Chemistry department. Through the use of a new software
package, teaching modules have been developed to show the various structures
adopted by DNA; these tools are being used in 5.07 (Biological Chemistry).
In the fall, a new module will be introduced in 5.11 (Principles of General
Chemistry), and a new "graphical interface" will be used in conjunction
with a number of pre-existing kinetics modules in 5.60 (Thermodynamics
and Kinetics). The new department web site provides information on departmental
activities, seminars, ongoing research, and class information. (This departments
web site address is http://web.mit.edu/chemistry/www/.)

1994-1995 Funded Projects

Electronic Multimedia Online Textbook In Engineering - $20,000

Dr. Edward Barrett, Program in Writing and Humanistic
Studies

The Class of 51 Fund awarded money to support a prototype of an
Electronic Multimedia Online Textbook in Engineering (EMOTE). The EMOTE,
designed to support hyperlinked databases of text, video and still imagery
and viewed on the World Wide Web, assists students with their written and
oral technical reports. EMOTE offers self-paced tutorials, sample writings,
and basic instructional tools for writing and speaking. Students who have
used this prototype found that the program is easily accessible and helps
develop their communicative strategies. Future plans include the introduction
of the prototype in some freshman seminars in the fall and possible publishing
of an expanded version of the prototype in hardcopy and digital form. The
web site can be found at: http://web.mit.edu/emote/emote.html

From Russia With Love

Professor Robert Rose, Concourse Program

Problem solving and problem sets - the crucial exercise in the MIT educational
experience - create a great deal of stress for students. In an effort to
lessen some of that stress, the Concourse Program developed exercises to
stimulate group problem-solving sessions. Professor Robert Rose found that
the ideal problems must be challenging and "anti-remedial" -
similar to those traditionally used in Russian math and science classes.
With the assistance of Dr. Yuri Chernyak, "problem sets" were
developed by the Freshman Concourse Program for an intensive credit-granting
Independent Activities Period (IAP) subject. Professor Rose found students
were highly enthusiastic and invigorated by the new problems and by the
instructor, and this subject was again offered in the following IAP. As
a result of this activity, Professor Rose and Dr. Chernyak have recently
published a book, The Chicken From Minsk, containing 100 riddles
and problems in logic, mathematics, Newtonian physics, and rudimentary
special relativity.

The New 8.01 - $25,000

Professor Wit Busza, Physics

Funds from the Class of 51 Fund permitted Professor Busza to develop
a comprehensive series of study guide materials to accompany a new version
of Physics 8.01. The "New 8.01" - first offered in the Fall of
1994 - is significantly different from the more traditional freshman lecture/recitation
subjects, and was introduced with the goal of encouraging students to take
charge of their own learning. The study material and the level of faculty-student
interaction were changed; most notably, the number of weekly lectures was
reduced and the number of small group classes increased. Study guides were
developed that include the goals and a summary of each study unit, as well
as examples and sample problems. Instead of "problem set" homework
assignments, 8.01 progress is monitored by weekly quizzes, longer review
quizzes and a final exam. All quizzes and exams are given by the "course
examiner," who plays an integral role in the subject but is supplemented
by other faculty who teach the small classes. By having one person - the
course examiner - in charge of the grading, the individual class professors
are regarded as allies and resources.